Tufts researchers have been delving into everything from epilepsy, cancer drugs, and regenerative medicine to next-gen solar panels and chimpanzee behavior
The Tufts Silklab created a stream of liquid silk that quickly turns into a strong fiber—stronger than this spider web. Photo: Shutterstock
Research of all types takes place on Tufts campuses, and each year stories about it are among our most popular. These are some of the top-read stories of 2024 from the worlds of biomedical engineering, veterinary medicine, cancer research, and far more.
Read on and be inspired.
Inspired by Spider-Man, a Lab Recreates Web-Slinging Technology
In a breakthrough that came about by accident, like many great discoveries, the Tufts Silklab has created a stream of liquid silk that quickly turns into a strong fiber that can stick to and lift objects. “Rather than presenting this work as a bio-inspired material, it’s really a superhero-inspired material,” says Marco Lo Presti, research assistant professor at Tufts.
Diets Rich in Plant Protein May Help Women Stay Healthy as They Age
“Dietary protein intake, especially plant protein, in midlife plays an important role in the promotion of healthy aging and in maintaining positive health status at older ages,” said the HNRCA's Andres Ardisson Korat. Photo: Shutterstock
A new Tufts-led study found women who ate more plant-based protein developed fewer chronic diseases and were generally healthier later in life. With data from more than 48,000 women, the researchers saw notably less heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—and cognitive and mental health decline—in those who included more protein in their diets from sources such as fruits, vegetables, bread, beans, legumes, and pasta, compared to those who ate less.
A New Way to Fight an Aggressive Cancer in Dogs
Hemangiosarcoma can appear in almost any dog breed, although golden retrievers are known to be highly predisposed. Photo: Shutterstock
Bolstered by years of generative cancer work, researchers at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine are taking aim at hemangiosarcoma, a common and aggressive type of cancer in dogs. The researchers also hope that much of the knowledge learned from their work in dogs can be applied to help improve liquid biopsy tests for people with a similar cancer called angiosarcoma.
With Living Robots, Scientists Unlock Cells’ Power to Heal
Michael Levin, A92, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology, is convinced that our cells have untapped abilities. We just need to learn to speak their language. Photo: Alonso Nichols
Michael Levin’s research into how cells work collectively is in service of regenerative medicine, taking advantage of what the body already knows. The steps involved in creating an eye or a limb are too complex to micromanage, he says. But perhaps—with the right set of signals—we can give the body a new goal and let intelligent groups of cells manage the details of how to achieve it. “We don’t want to try to tell every cell and every gene what to do,” Levin says. “We’re not looking to teach cells how to grow a leg; we’re looking to convince them that that’s what they should do.”
Cultivated Meat Production Costs Could Fall Significantly with New Cells Created at Tufts
“While we significantly cut the cost of media, there is still some optimization that needs to be done to make it industry-ready,” said Andrew Stout. Photo: Alonso Nichols
At the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture, researchers created bovine—beef—muscle cells that produce their own growth factors, a step that could significantly cut costs of cultivated meat production. “I think advances like this will bring us much closer to seeing affordable cultivated meat in our local supermarkets within the next few years,” says David Kaplan.
Tufts Researcher Takes on Epilepsy After Daughter’s Diagnosis
Photo: Shutterstock
After Madeleine Oudin’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy, she teamed up with neuroscientist Chris Dulla to advance epilepsy research and push for more effective treatments for patients. “I felt like if I couldn’t really do anything to stop my daughter from seizing or help her develop, I could try to do something in the lab to contribute to the field,” Oudin says.
Blood, Sweat, and Water: New Paper Analytical Devices Easily Track Health and Environment
Only a simple finger prick is needed to provide a sample, which can be mailed to a lab for white blood cell counts and other measurements. “This technology is likely to have additional applications in infectious disease such as detecting levels of virus and parasites in the blood and more generally in detecting markers of health and wellness,” says Charlie Mace. Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Mace
Three Tufts researchers create inexpensive, shelf-stable, easy-to-use analytical devices for easily tracking one’s health and environment—greatly lowering costs and making them more widely available in the process. “We can put an easy-to-use paper-based test in the hands of every susceptible patient, and with early detection save many lives, since infection can often progress to sepsis if not caught in time,” says Sameer Sonkusale.
The Importance of Play for Young Chimpanzees and Their Mothers
When it comes to nurturing their young, chimp moms go the extra mile. Using 10 years of observational data on wild chimpanzees, researchers found that while adults often play, and young chimps play a lot, when food gets scarce, most adults put play aside and focus on survival. But in the meantime, mother chimps continue as their offspring’s primary playmate, suggesting that they foster their young’s physical and social development even under food stress.
Why the Most Prescribed Chemotherapy Drug Can Cause Serious Heart Damage
"Our study is the first to show that a specific cell type can cause chronic inflammation in the heart after doxorubicin treatment and the first time T-cells have been implicated in this disease,” says Abe Bayer, shown here with Pilar Alcaide. Photo: Alonso Nichols
There’s still much to learn about how doxorubicin, a 50-year-old chemotherapy drug, causes its most concerning side effect: cardiac inflammation. To better understand and potentially control such complications, researchers have isolated the immune cells that become overactive when patients take doxorubicin.
Could a Plant Help Guide Design of Next-Generation Solar Panels?
During the pandemic, Giulia Guidetti says, she bought many house plants, attracted especially to ones with shiny, metallic-appearing leaves, and got interested in what made them that way. Photo: Jenna Schad
Using silk biomaterials, Tufts researchers copy a jewel orchid’s highly efficient system of capturing and networking light. This is “the first demonstration of optical networks in a living system, because something like that has not been reported before in any plant of anyone as far as we know—a system that can manage the light through an orderly assembly of lenses of cells,” says Fiorenzo Omenetto.
People with Schizophrenia Show Distinct Brain Activity When Faced With Conflicting Information
Imaging of the connections between the mediodorsal thalamus and prefrontal cortex in the human brain. Photo: Mengzing Liu / Tufts University
Researchers show that people with schizophrenia generate distinct neural patterns when asked to make decisions based on conflicting information. The work offers one of the first biological tests to assess whether someone is prone to inflexible thinking and, by monitoring changes in these patterns, a new way to measure whether treatments are working.
